WAR RESISTERS
Canada denies political asylum to U.S. soldier
A Canadian immigration board turned down a U.S. Army soldier's request for asylum. Other American soldiers were closely watching the outcome.
BY DOUG STRUCK
Washington Post Service
TORONTO - Canada's Refugee Hearing board Thursday rejected a bid for asylum by a U.S. Army deserter who refused to go to war in Iraq, raising legal roadblocks to the growing trickle of American servicemen fleeing to Canada.
The board ruled that Jeremy Hinzman, 26, could not argue that he would be unfairly persecuted in the United States for refusing to serve in what he said was an illegal war.
Hinzman, a parachute-trained specialist raised in Rapid City, S.D., served in Afghanistan but fled from Fort Bragg, N.C., and entered Canada in January 2004 after his unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, was given orders to deploy to Iraq.
''Our hands were tied by not being able to argue the legality of the war,'' Hinzman told several dozen demonstrators, including two other American deserters, who gathered outside the U.S. consulate after the decision. Now working as a bicycle courier, Hinzman cycled up after work, to chants of ``War resisters welcome here.''
`100 IN HIDING'
His attorney, Jeffry House, said nine other servicemen had started the asylum application process in Canada, and he estimated ''about 100'' were in hiding in the country.
''Obviously we are disappointed,'' House said. ``We certainly are not giving up. We believe the decision is wrong, and we will appeal it.''
House said Thursday's decision didn't ``make those cases unwinnable.''
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